United By Pain
by Raynebow-NinjaChick
Summary: A person, a place, and memories. United by duty, honor, and pain.


**Rayne Says: We had to write a desciptive essay about a person and place that are related to each other seperately and then together in English class. I decided to write about Sakura, which is why I'm putting this up on FF. R&R!!**

* * *

**United by Pain**

Her pale, pink hair hung limp on her shoulders. The smile upon her face was as fake as the thought that she possessed any other emotion besides sadness. The dried tear tracks that laced her face glinted slightly in the moonlight.

She lifted her absinthe eyes to the pregnant moon and bit her lip. 'He's not here,' she thought to herself. 'He won't be here anymore.'

She sat down on the wet grass and drew her knees to her chest. Placing her head in her lap, she allowed her tears to silently fall from her eyes.

"Why did he have to leave?" she asked herself.

Only the wind blowing through the trees answered her mournful voice. She stood up carefully, trying to savor the moment.

Walking back toward her apartment, she let her mind wander back to the past. Memories of his face, his dark onyx eyes, his smirk, and of his presence haunted her every waking moment. She could distract herself, but when she was alone they thrust themselves into her mind; driving her closer to insanity.

She tried to distance herself from places where the memories were strongest, but she couldn't distance herself fully from the village she loved. She refused to become a traitor… like him. Like…

"Sasuke," Sakura sighed.

* * *

The hospital had seen so much- almost too much. He was tired of existing in an age of so much pain. He felt old, almost as old as the village he resided in. But he knew with age came wisdom… and memories.

His whitewashed body shone faintly in the sun, his crimson head facing the brown mountains; proud and strong. His empty eyes were mirrors to the inside of his anatomy; to the place where life and death existed in an almost peaceful harmony, where healing and not fighting was the way of life.

The hospital smiled as a girl left him, her body whole again. He was generally in a happy mood, basically due to the fact more people were saved than lost. However, when even one life wasn't saved, he felt for them. Human life was so fleeting, while his was expansive. Sometimes, he wished he could be demolished, so someone younger could replace him.

He also knew that he had grown fond of the village and his healers. Perhaps that's why he carried on, day after day, giving shelter to the sick and injured. Because he was attached, literally and emotionally, to the village and to the people he cared for.

The hospital smiled, a wide, carefree, and gentle smile and stared at the open sky. Another day, another life, another death; just a continuous circle.

* * *

Sakura walked silently toward work, trying to walk at an even pace; not too slow, people knew she had somewhere to be, but not too fast, she didn't want people to think that there was an emergency. Although she was desperate to get to work. Actually all she wanted was the distraction that work provided. It promised focus and a purpose, unlike how she usually felt; useless and weak. A dead-weight like she used to be.

She finally reached the hospital and offered a small smile to what she considered her savior. If she hadn't been interested in medicine and if she didn't have the talent, then she wouldn't be spending her day going patient to patient, healing everyone who needed her. She laid a small hand upon the white wall and sighed.

Really she was grateful for all the hospital offered her, a reprieve from her memories, but a select few of them belonged to the hospital itself. She offered a brief flicker of a glance to the red roof where her two best friends had tried to kill each other. And she hadn't been able to stop them, because she'd been too weak. As far as she was concerned, she was still weak.

She entered the place of healing and quickly changed into her nurse's office. It was still a little unreal that she was the Head Nurse, but she knew it meant that at least she had some value. Walking up the winding stairs, she walked out to the third floor. The hospital had nine floors in all, but only the first seven were extensively used. The last two were for long-term patients.

She stopped in front of a gray door and grasped the metal handle firmly. Sliding the door open, she walked in to find her current patient. Strangely enough, he wasn't here yet, most likely late because of extra laps or something. Deciding she had nothing better to do, she sat down on the ugly yellow chair near the window. Really, the hospital had placed in a location where from nearly every window you would have an excellent view. She smelled the crisp fall air and gazed fondly at the trees that surrounded partially around the building. She heard the door open and turned around sharply.

A boy stood in the doorway, his smile blinding, his hair shaped like a bowl, and his eyebrows as large as fat caterpillars. Sakura smiled at him, not to comfort him for his impending check-up, but out of friendliness.

"Hi, Lee," she said politely.

"Hello, my beautiful Sakura! You look as youthful as always!" Lee said enthusiastically.

"Thanks. I guess we should begin your check-up now."

"Of course! It is important to remain youthfully healthy!"

Sakura smiled gently and moved to where he now sat. Putting her stethoscope against his chest she listened to his heart and did generic check-up procedures. When she finished, she waved Lee off, to which he responded with another blinding smile.

"Thank you, youthful Sakura! I shall see you soon!" he said, bounding off in exuberance.

"You're welcome," she said softly, although he was too far away to hear her.

It was times like these that she felt almost happy, not quite as empty. She graced the world with a small true smile, showing that she was moving on. She was getting stronger, she was becoming more powerful, and she was growing up. Maybe one day she'd be strong enough to bring Sasuke back to the village he abandoned. The hospital had helped; the work it had given her had given her some of her old confidence.

"Maybe the hospital isn't such a bad place," she said.

* * *

**So there ya go! It's kinda a three-shot in one. **


End file.
